Going to the hill station of Ooty was an uphill battle, literally and figuratively.
First, because we were in Munnar in Kerala and Ooty is in Tamil Nadu. The two states are at oods with each other because of the dam and protesters allegedly attack buses. We saw it in the news. Another reason is that we needed to go to Mettupalayam first via Coimbatore, then pray that we can get a seat at the toy train at Mettupalayam going to Ooty. The train has been booked solid since October, and we took tickets anyway because we were told at the reservation counter in Munnar that people do get lucky sometimes and get on the train at the last minute.
Well, the string of events that followed could make the weak break down and cry, but two and a half months in India had made us stronger... or maybe just stubborn about doing things the hardcore backpacker way :)
The bus we needed for Coimbatore at 6:30 am didn't arrive and we took option 2, which is a bus to the next town (Udumalpet) that left at 8:30am. From there, we had to take a bus to Coimbatore, but it was a challenge to simply get out of the bus because a tide of people was pushing its way into the bus even before we could go out!
Henri and other foreigners passed all the tourist backpacks through the front window instead, because there was no way we could get our bags through the door anymore!
On the bus to Udumalpet, we met Prince, who had a meeting in Coimbatore and decided to help us maneouver the challenging world of buses in Tamil Nadu. The trip out of Munnar was beautiful, and the scenery changed dramatically from eucalyptus and sandalwood trees to cacti and trees that reminded us of the african savanna. Prince told us sometimes elephants and tigers pass through the highway because it's a protected forest. Someone should protect them from the crazy bus drivers.
From Udumalpet, he joined us to find the bus to Coimbatore and from there, he took a bus with us to the new bus station where we could catch a bus to Mettupalayam. He didn't have to, but he felt obliged to help us, probably because we didn't look like tough-as-nails backpackers :)
We spent the night at Mettupalayam and the next day we were at the train station at 6:30am for the toy train, just like the ticket guy at Munnar told us. But, HOLD ON!
When we got there, there were about 20 foreigners milling around anxiously. There was a guy with his daughter who looked desperate, and his daughter looked like she knew there was very little chance left for her to get on the cool train. I was nervous and Henri was starting to think we should go and get a bus instead.
